About Louise Kohl

My passions are: My Faith, my friend/husband and family unity. Genealogy, Graphic Design, Art and photo restoration are my business and my pleasure. I have been playing on the computer since 1983.  My first computer was a Amstrad . It was a complete lemon and after sending it back five times, the company upgraded me with  their new PC-1640 that was marketed under the name PC-6400 in the USA. When I became interested in computers, there was only a prompt on the screen to navigate and only a few things one could do. There were no pictures. Only your imagination. One had to learn some computer languages called Basic and UNIX . When Windows 1.0 hit the store shelves in November of 1985, I thought there would be no better technology to come, but over the years, the Internet has evolved into something great and awesome. When I started doing serious genealogy research in 1987, no one that I knew had even thought about genealogy. Today it has become a big business and one that seems to have forsaken individuality and personal choice.

My family thought it a little strange, when from the computer room, a yell of delight was heard, when I had found a brick wall ancestor I had long searched for, or the excitement of a new cousin who had contacted me after visiting my web pages on the Internet. Nothing felt more right than to combine my art with technology, so I returned to college for degrees in Fine Art and Graphic Design.

Carey and I have met many people who had recently become first time computer users. Most had done their research by mail or had traveled to obtain records in court houses, libraries or archives and many that we met, wanted to share their research and photos with others but had no idea where to start. We wanted to provide a cost effective way so they could do that and reach out to many people, as I had done with my own personal web site.  A complaint we heard quite often, was that once they had submitted their information to some sites, they couldn't change the information if they found errors in their research. Plus they had all kinds of pop up windows and advertisement on the pages. For these reasons, Genealogy Homes was born.

I personally believe when I stop learning and doing, I will become mentally obsolete. My interests have kept me busy learning and made me an avid  believer in the importance of our past history. I believe that our past history is a learning guide for all  future acts, so keeping history alive visually and virtually  has become my art and now a long term goal.

Louise

About Carey Kohl

I got my first computer in 1982. It was a Texas Instruments t199/4A.. (very small) I had to learn a little BASIC so I could change the screen color and do goto loops of lines and circles. The magazine pictured in the link above, had programs that I could copy. I didn't have a monitor, so I used a little TV set. I was the state of the art guy in my neighborhood. That computer got me started and I have never lost interest since.

I met my wife on the Internet in 1994. I had started to do my own family genealogy at the time and Louise and I found that we had many other things in common. We both liked to play the games that were available back then. She asked me questions about mother boards, ram,  processors and memory and other technical questions. Eventually and we became best friends. I was impressed that she treated everyone as she wanted to be treated and accepted them as they were. Her screen name was 'Nice Lady' and she still is. I liked her principles and values and respected her determination.  

I believe nothing happens by mistake. A few years later, both of our life events changed and while on a trip to Florida, we met face to face and immediately fell into conversation like we had always lived next door to each other. I went back home and applied for a new job. A year later I got the job where I am still employed. A transfer saw me packing up all I owned in one car and driving to California from Michigan.  A year after that, I asked Louise to marry her best friend. When she finally said  yes, we were married aboard a cruise ship by the captain in the middle of San Diego Bay in December of 1998.

Carey